Hello, and welcome to Kentucky Afield.

I█m your host, Chad Miles, Join us, as we journey the commonwealth In search of outdoor adventure.

This week we're going to take a look back at my son Leo's first deer hunt.

Then we're headed to the Red River Gorge to check on a trout stream.

But first we're going to beat the heat and launch the kayak for a small mouth fishing trip on Elkhorn Creek.

Well, this early morning, I'm out here on the Elkhorn Creek.

Fall is here.

Normally, this time of year, you█d find me in a deer stand.

But with temperatures today reaching over 95 degrees.

I█ve elected to do something a little different.

And the fall can be a beautiful time to be on any of the streams here in Kentucky that have smallmouth bass.

Elkhorn Creek is an historic smallmouth bass stream.

There's a lot of fish to be caught here, and it also has great access.

you know, if you're looking for something to do in the fall and it's just too hot to be in a deer stand, a perfect opportunity is to go to the Department of Fish and Wildlife Bluewater Trails page and locate a stream near you.

I'm gonna be fishing from a kayak today.

I█m doing about a three mile float.

So not a long float, but it's got some really good holes for small mouth bass.

Like, anytime I'm on the stream.

I like to throw crawfish imitating, baits as well as shad or small bait fish style baits.

I█ll get my life jacket on, get launched, hopefully go catch some fish.

Lookey there.

That did not take long.

Little smallmouth bass.

Man, I'm throwing a little brush hog.

Little bitty crawfish imitating bait.

These little fish are trying to eat it.

Probably about the fifth one that I hooked, they just keep getting off.

Smallmouth bass.

I'll tell you one thing.

I have a lot of respect for this fish.

They can adapt.

I mean, there's millions of them in the Great Lakes.

Lake Michigan, Erie, Ontario.

All the Great Lakes have these fish.

And then you come all the way here and you find them in these little bitty streams in a foot of water.

What a beautiful little fish.

They get a lot bigger, though.

Oh, we got a different species of fish here.

This here is a rock bass.

Looks like they're hanging up there with the Smallies.

A little bigger mouth on this guy.

Nice fish.

Real pretty fish.

Pretty good little fight to.

but it is a small mouth bass.

Well, man, this definitely looks good for the future of Elkhorn Creek as a smallmouth bass fishery.

The problem is these are a little bit small for what I'm after today.

But man, there are hundreds of them in there.

They're actually hard to hook up on this.

This little brush hog.

This is a tiny brush hog here with a one-aught hook on it, which you█d think, oh, for bass fishing, that's a small hook.

Well, for this size bass, it's a little bit too big.

I'll tell you what.

They're here, but they're not the right size.

Let's go find some bigger fish.

Oh, look at that fish.

Come all the way out of the water.

This is my first little fish on a swim bait today.

He█s a little one too.

Just caught a pretty good little fish there on my, on my little crawfish imitating bait.

Now, follow it up with this little swim bait.

And a little, little small mouth.

Tell you what, they're beautiful streams all over the state of Kentucky.

But when I think of central Kentucky, this is kind of the area I think about these stone rock walls, these clear streams and these horse farms.

I can't think of a more beautiful way to spend an early Fall day than catching a few fish, and just drifting down one of these streams, You know, and if you don't have a kayak, there are several services that are offered throughout the state of Kentucky.

There's one right here on this, stream.

You can actually just rent a kayak but the scenery is just spectacular.

There we go.

Tell what?

On an ultra ultralight rod.

It's a lot of fun catching these small fish in this current.

I have a I think it's a 16th ounce.

It might even be a 32nd ounce little bull shot and I can cast it up here in this current and let it drift down this little thing naturally with my line.

You see, I got my rod tip up.

I'm keeping my.

I'm keeping my line off of the water as much as I possibly can.

That weight is just tumbling down through here.

In a real natural presentation.

Here we go.

A little better fish.

There we go.

This is a nice little stream smallie right here.

Here we go.

What a beautiful small mouth bass.

About to take me.

Beautiful little smallmouth bass.

Nice and healthy.

This is a couple year old fish in this stream.

There's plenty of them in here.

And there's also a lot of food.

But the growing season in a creek is really, really short.

You know, we're out here in the Fall, and the Fall is a great time to come catch these fish.

But here in about a month or two in this water temperature just below 50, they almost disappear.

They become very hard to catch.

They don't eat a whole lot.

And creek fishing really kind of starts to end.

So if you love to get out and creek fish man, really September and October is kind of your last good opportunity unless you're trout fishing.

But these things are a lot of fun.

Man.

Oh, there he goes.

Oh, I love it when they go aerial like that!

Nice.

Come over here, buddy.

This little, little bitty line.

I don't want to break it off.

There we go.

Look at that.

That fish jumped three feet out of the air.

Out of the water, up in the air.

Look at that.

Such a beautiful, beautiful fish.

They're just so much fun to target.

Let█s get it back.

Here we go.

Another small fish.

Exact same pattern all day.

Moving water slightly a little deeper with some moving water.

Letting the bait tumble down through there.

It's been the same thing all day.

Here we go.

Here we go.

Another smallmouth bass.

I'll tell you what.

This, this day, which started out supposedly, supposed to be in a deer stand, and I just thought it's too hot for a deer stand.

I'm going to get a kayak out and make a float.

The water is about 120 cfs, so any lower than that, you probably just need to expect to have to get out of the kayak and do some walking.

But 120 cfs is still a perfect way to use this presentation.

And drift is so soft plastic.

Roll it down this current around these big rocks and catch these fish.

You just have to set your expectations.

You know you're not coming out here to Dale Hollow or Cumberland to catch four and five pounders.

Now there are some two and 3 pound fish in here.

But come out here, bring a spinning rod and catch these fish all day long.

I'll tell you what.

It definitely be a hot, hot, hot day in the deer stand.

Now.

Hopefully the colder weather comes in and I'm ready to get back in the stand for some Fall hunting.

This year Kentucky's youth deer season has been expanded and it starts next weekend.

On Saturday, October the 10th.

Now's the time to find a youth hunter and get ready.

Well, early morning.

We're here in Henry County.

It's October, and it's the youth deer hunt.

Today I've got my son here with me.

This is his very, very first deer today.

And you're hunting with a brand new friend.

You got Charles.

You've killed several deer out here, haven't you?

Yeah, I know you know exactly what you're in for.

Everything is new for him.

And you've got Chuck Rollins here.

Chuck, this is your piece of property.

Yes, sir.

I'll tell you what.

I know.

You put a lot of time and effort energy out here managing this farm.

That's kind of what it's about.

It?

Yeah, that's what it's about, you know?

And these boys get to come out here and, you know, see deer and hopefully both of them will be able to pull the trigger this morning.

But, I think it's gonna be a fun hunt for both of them.

Yeah, a lot of deer here.

Yeah.

Yeah, we were out here the day before yesterday.

Deer sign everywhere.

I think it's going to be a really good day.

You know, we don't get it done this morning, that's fine because we got some better spots to go this evening.

You know what?

It's kind of a brisk, cool morning if you're a deer hunter, that's what you want.

For a youth hunter.

This is perfect.

Temperatures in the low 30s.

You guys are bundled up.

We got our orange on.

We got about 40 minutes till daylight.

I'd say we start making our way.

What do you think?

Yeah.

Let's get everything loaded up.

Let's go.

All right.

Leo, it's legal shooting light right now.

So if we see a deer, we can shoot now.

The deer have been crossing this road right that way.

So I want you to keep an eye.

You can actually see better than me because I got this blind in the way I look down that road.

And we█ll get the gun up and get ready.

I want you either stand up or put your knee in the seat and hopefully you get a shot right this way, Okay?

Okay.

Are you warm?

Yeah.

Okay, good.

So, Charles, see the big food plot on the left where the grass is real tall?

Yeah, I think I see it.

A deer comes out, you get on it.

Just hold the gun and I█ll adjust the scope.

To where you want it, okay?

Cause right now it's only on like six power.

But if it█s way out there, I█ll adjust it up a little bit higher.

Leo, there's a deer.

Looks like a small doe.

Get your gun out.

Wait.

It's looking back.

There's another one right behind.

Okay, it's another doe.

We got two does out in the road.

Oh, They just crossed the road.

They walked out and walked right across.

They look like they were really small, so don't worry.

It█s early.

We'll probably see some more.

I'm gonna wait for it to turn broadside.

It's pretty big for a four pointer.

It'll turn.

Just be patient.

It█s looking at us.

It█s staring directly at us.

Just stay on it.

Get ready.

Nice and steady.

I█m trying to be.

I can turn the scope up higher if you want me to.

No, don█t it█s already good.

Wait wait wait.

Don't move.

There's another right there.

It's closer.

It's literally right in front of us.

Right there.

I see it now.

It█s a little spike.

It's making a scrape.

Okay, I'm gonna shoot it.

Right in the shoulder, right in the front shoulder.

Did you hear that?

That was definitely gunshot.

That was a gunshot.

And that was definitely Charles█ stand.

Let's see what his text is.

Looks like Charles got a small buck.

It's on the ground.

So it looks like he made a good shot.

The second I pulled the trigger I just saw it drop.

Yeah.

Pretty excited.

Hit it right in the shoulder.

This one stepped out at about 50.

So we go for the, take a 50 yard shot instead of 180.

He got on him quick and made it happen.

Well Leo, it's about time to get down.

Did you have fun on your first year?

Yeah, it was fun.

We got to see a whole ton of wildlife.

From deer, squirrels, the chipmunks to everything.

Well, I'm glad you had fun.

I tell you what, let's together our stuff and we'll get down.

We'll go see Charles's deer.

What do you think?

Sounds good.

We'll look at that, Charles.

You put a great shot on that deer.

Nice job buddy.

Thanks.

I'm sure that deer went straight down, right?

Oh, yeah, he just collapsed.

What do you think about that, Leo?

I█m ready for the evening hunt.

I'd tell you what, Chuck.

You've picked a really good spot for this afternoon hunt, haven't you?

Yeah, I've got a good spot.

I call it the apex.

That's probably my favorite spot on the farm.

I've been up there twice, and there's some really good angles to shoot.

Youth season is two days long and you got a deer in the first 40 minutes.

Nice job.

We'll get it taken down, processed and get us a little bit of a break and be right back in the tree stand.

Hey good luck.

Thank you.

You to.

All right, Leo, This was the hunt I've been waiting for.

This evening hunt in this stand right here is really going to be something special.

I have this great feeling.

We█re set up that way because the way the wind is blowing.

The deer should show up right there in that little green field.

There's a food plot down there and there's a camera, and it's been covered in deer in the evenings.

So, that doesn't mean a deer won't show up In one of these other areas.

I'll keep an eye out, but I want you to focus on that area, okay?

Yeah.

If a deer comes out there, take your time.

You don't have to rush a shot.

I don't care if the deer's there 3 or 4 minutes before you shoot.

It's probably not going to go anywhere for a while.

Hey, it's going to be good.

I'm very excited.

Are you excited?

Yeah.

This is your time right here.

Beautiful day for a deer hunt.

Oh, Leo, deer right behind us.

Look all the way back in the back field.

I see it down there.

Oh, it's looking right at us.

About 160 yards away.

I don't think we can get turned around.

Uh Oh, deer deer deer.

Right in our opening.

Get ready.

See that dead tree right there laying on the ground?

Oh, yeah.

It's right behind it.

Get ready.

Put your glasses on.

Take your safety off.

Just keep the crosshairs on it.

Wait for it to turn.

All right, Leo, whenever you're ready.

Slowly squeeze the trigger.

You got it down.

That█s, that's a great shot.

That's a great shot.

It's right out there.

It fell.

Oh my gosh.

All that time sitting in the stand all day.

Put that back on.

Hold on, Hold on.

You dropped it right there.

Great job buddy.

Hey you dropped it right there.

That's a that's about a 90 yard shot straight down.

I don't know where you hit it, but I know it was a great shot.

Nice job.

Well, Leo, your first deer.

Yeah.

What an awesome day of deer hunting.

We got out here this morning.

You saw a couple deer, but it was very quick and they got through on us and we couldn't get a shot this evening.

We had that deer behind us.

But what happened there?

We saw this deer and acrossed, and I left, that deer and came to this one.

First day in a deer stand.

You got two hunts in.

The morning and evening.

Saw deer both times and was able to take a big doe.

Hey, what do you think about deer hunting?

It's really fun.

Hey, Leo, I hear that Chuck and Charles are on the ATV coming to get us right now.

Hey, man.

Good job.

We got it.

Got it done, man!

Atta boy.

We got it done.

I tell you what, this is a hunt I will never forget for the rest of my life.

Many people travel to the Red River Gorge for its scenic beauty, but it also holds some historic trout streams that are ready to be fished.

So we are down in the Red River Gorge, and we're getting ready to stock rainbow trout here, specifically today into Chimney Top Creek and a couple weeks ago we backpacked trout into Swift Camp Creek, and we also stopped them into East Fork, Indiana, Middle Fork Red River.

We do that because really, there's no easier way to get them down in the creek.

You know, these these fish need to be in water the whole time.

We can't drive the truck right down to the creek.

So putting them in in a bag with water and hiking them down is the next best option.

The journey of these fish really starts at Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery.

There our federal partners in this.

They raise the fish.

And what happens in this particular instance today is, a couple of guys out of my office drove from Moorhead all the way down to Wolf Creek Dam, picked up these fish, and now they're bringing them all the way back to Red River Gorge.

When they get up here, we're going to look at the data, see the number of fish in a pound of fish.

And that kind of tells us how many fish we need to put in a bag.

We count those out into a bucket.

We put it into a plastic bag pump pure oxygen in that plastic bag, seal it off with some castration bands, which prevents any air from getting in and hopefully any air or water from escaping.

they're put on your back And then from there, the clock is ticking.

And we got to get them down to the stream as quick as we can and got to get them out into the water as quick as we can.

These backpacking trips are fun for a lot of folks.

You know, we get a lot of folks from the department and volunteers from different hunting and angling groups, community colleges that sort of stuff that come out and help us because it's a unique opportunity where you get to put fish on your back and hike them down and release them into streams.

And in the past, we've gotten with different state agencies like Department of Juvenile Justice has brought kids out to do this before angling groups like Bluegrass Trout Unlimited.

Today here at Chimney Top, we have, one of the community colleges is coming out.

And then also the backcountry hunters and anglers are coming out to help us today, really without the help of the volunteers we can't do this.

You know, we just don't have enough staff, in my office, especially to to handle stocking these, several hundred fish we█re about to stop today.

I've been fly fishing since I was 18 years old.

My, interests have always revolved around being outside in nature.

And, it's wonderful to fish.

It's even more wonderful to to get into the backcountry a bit and be able to have an experience alone in the water.

Kentucky Afield had done a program several years back about the few streams in the state that require hiking the fish in.

So for the last several years, I've been trying to get on board and meet with the volunteers and find a chance to, to pack in fish myself.

It's a really neat experience, and I certainly hope to do it again.

I think I'll just keep popping the events on my calendar and come whenever I can From there, those fish, because they've been raised our whole lives at Wolf Creek Hatchery, they they naturally are schooling up together, and they just kind of stay together in this big mass for a little while.

But slowly, through the course of the rest of today and definitely into tomorrow, they█ll split up and kind of get out on their own and start adapting to that, wild diet.

Why put all this effort in?

for those adventure anglers.

These aren't your normal pull up walk ten steps, cast a line and you go put some effort and you got to, hike down to these streams.

You got to do some research.

You got to be quiet.

The reward for your effort is not only just the fish, but just the beauty of what's around us.

These are unique opportunities, not necessarily just for us in the Northeast District, but unique across the state.

You know, there's there's only one Red River gorge, and there's only a handful of the streams that we stock.

It's an opportunity for us to, you know, reach another group of our constituents as far as anglers go.

Now let's check in and see who else has been out having fun, In this week's ones that didn't get away.

Here we have the three Marler brothers who went on their very first squirrel hunt with their dad in Rockcastle County.

Nice job.

Check out this beautiful trophy sized muskie that was caught at K Run Lake by Ron Carlitos.

Nice fish.

Here we have Caitlin Leonard, who got a limit of doves while dove hunting recently in Madison County.

Nice job.

Check out this mature eight point buck that was taken by Waylon Bowling while archery hunting in Clay County, Kentucky.

Nice job.

Here we have Sam Bearden who's holding a nice rainbow trout that he caught while fishing on the Cumberland River.

Congratulations.

Check out this beautiful largemouth bass that was caught by four year old Landry Jeffers.

using a brush hog.

Nice job.

The fall here in Kentucky provides many hunting and fishing opportunities.

Go to fw.ky.gov to help plan your next adventure.

And remember, hunting and fishing on private property is a privilege.

Always ask permission and thank the landowner.

Until next week, I'm your host Chad Miles, and I hope to see you in the woods or on the water.